The increase was the maximum county hall bosses could impose without having a Lancashire-wide referendum.

Hyndburn council, which is the collecting authority, had earlier agreed to freeze its portion of council tax at a local level for the sixth consecutive year.

David Borrow, Deputy Leader of LCC and portfolio holder for finance, said the combination of funding cuts by central government and rising demand for services such as social care meant the authority has to find “unprecedented savings”.

He added: “We had already identified £21m of savings for 2015/16 in last year’s budget and have now agreed a further £79m of savings to be made this year, a total of £100m. Between 2010 and 2018 we will have made savings of £547 million, which leaves us no option but to take radical action.”

He added: “We have already made significant savings by introducing more intelligent and efficient ways of working and we will continue to do that. However, it is also clear that we will have to deliver some services in a different way and stop some altogether. We are doing all we can to ensure that we protect the most vulnerable in the county and we remain committed to spending our resources fairly.” The budget identifies how the council will make £152 million in savings by April 2018.

Coun Borrow added: “We’re asking council tax payers to contribute a little extra because the increase will help us to deliver services that we wouldn’t be able to deliver.”